Joel Bloomberg has been designing and creating sculptural and functional
artworks for galleries, designers and collectors since opening his studio in 1980.
Largely self-taught in his glass designs, Bloomberg earned degrees from two of
California's most respected glass schools :
Palomar College (Associate Degree in Chemistry and Glass) and California State
University, Chico (Bachelors Degree in Glass and Sculpture) .
The many site-specific glass sculptures he has created by commission include
those for the city of West Hollywood,CA; the Great American Bank, San Diego;
the Gesim Corporation, Calabasas, CA ,
Coastal Flats Restaurant , McLean,VA ,
and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Oceanside,CA
Joel Bloomberg's work has been shown at more than 100 galleries and museums
in the United States and Canada , including the Downey Museum of Art , CA; the
Los Angeles Museum of Art ; the Harvard University Museum of Natural History ,
and is part of the permanent collections of the White House , Washington , DC
and the Corning Museum of Glass.
His work is included in major collections throughout North America , Japan , and
Europe .
The Illuminated Jellyfish Series
Joel Bloomberg's distinctively sculptural jellyfish lamps are part of an
ongoing exploration of the vocabulary of glass; his object being to create
designs and develop techniques which use the materials
in new and unexpected ways .
Each illuminated jellyfish is unique in color , shape , size ,
and appearance . Each requires a complex combination of blowing , coldworking ,
and lamination that Bloomberg
has perfected over many years .
"The interplay of glass and light " Bloomberg says , "is fundamental to the
medium . Light can reveal the subtle qualities of glass ;
glass reflects, transmits and transforms light . In many ways ,
glass work is ultimately about light ."